Reply #10: Find one poet that more or less "works" for you.

[patrice]

Get away from anthologies and pick one poet to become familiar with.

Turn loose of your rational responses to the work. Just let it be whatever it is. Read out loud. Experiment with its sounds. Share him/her with others. Pick something to memorize (I look for a piece that has at least one line in it that has a deep impact upon me, whether I understand it or not.) Repeat your memorized piece(s) either in your mind or out loud when doing something/anything that you enjoy. If your poet were a painter who would s/he be (i.e. get a book of art history and look at the works of various artists). Similarily, if your poet were a musician, who would s/he be?

P.S. I'm not real big on my contemporary poets either, no one much later than Wallace Stevens, Dylan Thomas, or T.S. Eliot.